Private Sector vs. Nonprofit Sector

Yesterday I had two contrasting AI conversations: one with folks in the private sector and one with someone in the social impact sector.

The contrast was in the way that they are each thinking about AI, which is obvious but bears repeating.

In the private sector, they are moving full speed ahead (sometimes to their own detriment, with MIT research showing that more than 95% of AI projects are failing - link in comments). At least they are trying.

But in the social impact space, folks are so focused on the "bad" of AI (read: environmental and ethical impacts), that so many are refusing to use it altogether.

The space that I am sitting in, the two truths space, is that we need to acknowledge and understand the bad of AI, while also forging ahead and adopting it.

If we leave it to the private sector to drive AI innovation, then all of the good that can be created with AI by heart-led social impact folks will be outweighed by corporate interests.

So we can sit and philosophize all day long about what an AI future looks like, but we also have to remember that we have agency in creating it.